Planning & Zoning meet Tuesday evening

With eight out of nine members present, Boonville's Planning and Zoning Commission met quorum requirements at Tuesday night's meeting. Voting member, Noah Heaton, who is a City Council member, was not present. Though Planning and Zoning meetings are normally a monthly event, both the May a...

With eight out of nine members present, Boonville's Planning and Zoning Commission met quorum requirements at Tuesday night's meeting. Voting member, Noah Heaton, who is a City Council member, was not present.

Though Planning and Zoning meetings are normally a monthly event, both the May and June gatherings were cancelled. Following minute approval of the April 17 meeting, William and Cheryl Whitehurse of Whitehurse Minor Subdivision, along with their surveyor, Mark Robertson, spoke to the commission concerning approval of the minor subdivision inside a commercial zone. The request involves the division of 13.2 acres into two lots.

The first, which maintains a house and shed on .39 acres, is under contract for sale by the Whitehurses. The couple plans to retain the remaining 12.8 acres which border the Lake Farrell Estates subdivision to the south and Ashley Road to the west. The request was forwarded by the Commission to City Council for further review.

Boonville City Building Inspector, Steve Hage, addressed and gave an update on city permit applications. Permits for new homes are in decline, but permits for remodeling and additions to pre-existing structures are seeing an increase.

"If you look at my permits now, I'm still selling as many, if not more permits, than I had in the past. But, everybody is going back to maintaining and taking care of what they've got – small editions, remodels, updates to kitchens and bathrooms. That part of permitting is very strong right now – new homes aren’t. There's lots of new activity, it's just not for new construction," Hage said.

Boonville City Planner, Megan McGuire, gave an annexation planning update.

"We've been working on two annexation issues. One we know about is the Hail Ridge [Golf Course] annexation. We've been working with City Council to try and put together an involuntary annexation plan for Highway 87. We're working through that and are in the very early stages of it," McGuire said.

"The other piece that we're working on – we've been approached by the Oswald property, which is 152 acres directly east of the Super Wal Mart. That property is held in a trust and they are currently working with a realtor from St. Louis. They are looking at and evaluating the pros and cons of annexing it to the city prior to the sale of the property," she said.

The Planning and Zoning Commission are due to meet next month on August 14.